1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a cookie capper apparatus and method, and more specifically to an automated arrangement for inverting every other row of cookie halves on a conveyor belt, depositing a filling on the inverted cookie halves and transferring the other cookie halves on top of the filled cookie halves.
2. Prior Art
For many years the art of sandwich making or the making of filled cookies involved the manual step of placing a cover half on the half on which the filling had been placed.
It is also known in the art of sandwich making or the making of filled cookies to provide an automated arrangement for placing one sandwich half or cookie half on top of another sandwich half or cookie half upon which a filling has been placed as the halves travel along a conveyor belt. In many instances it is completely immaterial as to which side of the sandwich half or the cookie half the filling is placed and is likewise immaterial as to the disposition of the cover half, since both sides of each half are identical in nature. Thus, while it is old and well known in the art to utilize a vacuum transfer device for picking up a row of cover halves and depositing them on the filled lower halves, these machines do not make any prior provisions for inverting the rows of halves upon which the filling is to be deposited. Furthermore, such vacuum devices require a compound movement to be synchronized with the conveyor as does the filling apparatus.
Other prior art machines provide for feeding a plurality of rows of sandwich halves or cookie halves wherein the "inner" surface of each half is disposed upwardly. The filling is then automatically deposited on the halves in every other row and the unfilled halves are inverted and placed on top of the filled halves so that the "inner" surface of each half contacts the filling.
Still other prior art machines contemplate feeding the sandwich halves or cookie halves from a cartridge in which the halves are all disposed with their "inner" surfaces facing in the same direction. Every other half is then directed to a separate conveyor belt with the cookies on one belt having their "inner" surfaces facing up and the halves on the other belt having their "inner" surfaces facing down. After a filling is placed on the halves having "inner" surfaces facing upwardly, the other cookie halves are brought into juxtaposed position with the filled halves and assembled into a sandwich or filled cookie. Another variation of this type of apparatus involves feeding the top and bottom cookie halves onto two different belts with the "inner" surface disposed upwardly in each instance. A filling is deposited on the halves on one of the conveyors and the halves on the other conveyor are inverted and deposited on top of the filled half to form a sandwich or filled cookie.